Storytelling combines the intensity of a solo performance with the intimacy of a face-to-face conversation.
"Storytelling at its best is mutual creation. Through the interaction between teller and listener, storytelling speaks to the inner child to nurture the human spirit." -
Ellin Greene, author of Storytelling: Art & Technique.

Storyteller Alden “Joe” Doolittle talks about the stories he
will tell during the “What If the Stockade Walls Could Talk” program at the
First Reformed Church of Schenectady on Friday as he sits in Arthur’s Market
with Lawrence the Indian in the background.

Alden “Joe” Doolittle uses poetic license as much as any
entertaining storyteller, but taking too many liberties with the truth is a
no-no, especially when it comes to one of his favorite subjects: local history.

“You can make up some details, but the personalities of the
people and the events have to be credible,” said Doolittle, who will be one of
the featured speakers when the First Reformed Church presents “If the Stockade
Walls Could Talk: 318 Years Later,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday. “You can take some
latitude, because nobody was there and nobody knows all the details of what
really went on. But you have to try to be true to those characters and events
as much as you can.”

A member of the Story Circle of the Capital District,
Doolittle will tell stories about Alexander Lindsay Glen, the first man to
settle in Scotia in 1658, and Lawrence the Indian, a friendly Mohawk who helped
Schenectadians rebuild after the 1690 massacre. The program, which will also
include a presentation by James Schermerhorn of the Dutch Settlers Society, is
part of the 2008 Schenectady Colonial Festival, a series of events to help
commemorate the Schenectady Massacre by the French and Indians 318 years ago.

“I’ve always been enthralled by the history of Schenectady,”
said Doolittle, “but we seem to forget the dynamic nature of it. And any
history of Schenectady has to include the Mohawk River and the water. It’s like
being baptized. People forget the importance of the water.”

Inspired by Lawrence

Doolittle’s own interest in the history of Schenectady began
with Lawrence the Indian, or to be more precise, the statue of Lawrence the
Indian that stands at the intersection of Front, Ferry and Green Streets in the
Stockade section of the city. He grew up in Stanford Heights, in the eastern
fringes of Schenectady, and remembers seeing the statue every time he and his
mother went shopping into the city.

“I grew up next to the 10th tee at the old Stanford Golf
Club, and I’d take the bus downtown with my mother and I always wondered why
there was a statue of an Indian there,” remembered Doolittle. “So my mother
would tell me stories on the ride into town, and the one I remember the most is
the story of Lawrence the Indian. He actually was a historical character, a
very real one, and a very important one to people living in Schenectady at that
time.”

Doolittle has hundreds of stories in his repertoire, but the
tales of Lawrence the Indian and Glen and the founding of Scotia and Schenectady
are two of the most popular.

“These are real stories. So the folks seem to pay attention
to them because they can learn something from them and really enjoy them at the
same time,” said Doolittle. “Glen was a very interesting character, and the
story of the massacre is enthralling. The ironic thing about the raid and the
thing that people don’t realize is that most of the attacking French and Indians
were Christian. We think of them as savages, but many of them had been
converted by the French — so these were Christians attacking Christians. People
don’t tend to look at it that way, but that’s what it was.”

‘This is what you do’

A graduate of Colonie High School, Doolittle majored in
history at Colgate University but got a master’s degree in health care
administration at the University of Pittsburgh and worked in that field
throughout most of his life. He refers to himself these days as “half-retired,”
his work with the Story Circle of the Capital District keeping him a very busy
man.

“It was probably about 20 years ago that my wife saw a
notice in the paper about the Story Circle meeting at the Scotia library,”
remembered Doolittle. “She said, ‘This is what you do. Why don’t you go over
there and see what it’s all about?’ And that’s what I did. I learned there was
a method to storytelling, and I’ve used it as a discipline or a teaching tool
in my professional career. Stories have to have a structure, and it’s helpful
to keep that in mind whether you’re entertaining people or trying to teach
them.”

When he’s done with his presentation at the First Reformed
Church Friday night, Doolittle will keep busy working with Story Circle
programs Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion and at various times throughout
the next few months at Proctors.

“It helps to be outgoing and to have a certain confidence,
but even shy people can make very good storytellers,” said Doolittle. “You just
have to remember a few simple rules: Speak loudly, make eye contact, have a
beginning and an ending with a situation that presents itself as a crisis or
humorous, and make sure the story is resolved. Don’t leave your audience hanging
without an ending or a moral to the story.”

Making presentations along with Doolittle and Schermerhorn
will be former Schenectady County Historical Society president Frank Taormina,
Kyle Jenks of American Heritage Living History Productions, Robert Bullock of
the New York State Archives Partnership Trust and New York State Quadricentennial
Commission.

Schermerhorn is a descendant of Simon Schermerhorn, the
individual who rode a horse from Schenectady to Albany on the night of Feb. 8, 169 0, to warn settlers of the attack by the French and Indians.

“It’s going to be an interesting and informative evening
from folklore to legends to archival documentation and archaeological research
about what happened in Schenectady on Feb. 8th and 9th,” said Laura Lee Linder,
who serves as historian for the First Reformed Church. “It’s a great
opportunity to promote and build awareness of our Colonial heritage.”

2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 — “Collecting Stories,” learning
about the art of oral history with Ellen McHale, director of the New York
Folklore Society, at the Schenectady County Historical Society. Free.